Welcome to the Pulse of the week: updates about the legal basis of the SERP tools you rely on, what is worth keeping your content in the Google index, and where the income after Search is headed.
Here is what is important to you and your work.
Search Profit Increases by 17%; Photoi Points to Gemini 4
Alphabet reported Q2 2026 earnings, and Google Search and other revenue rose 17% year over year to $63.27 billion. The growth rate slowed from 19% in Q1, the first decline after four quarters of acceleration. On the earnings call, Photosi pointed to the Gemini 4, now in pre-production, as the model Google needs to compete on the frontier.
Important facts: In the earnings release, CEO Sundar Photosi said “the company’s popular AI features are driving Search query growth,” and Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler pointed to strong vertical performance growth, led by stores. Alphabet also raised its 2026 capital spending forecast to $195 billion to $205 billion. In the Q&A call, Photosi named coding and agents as areas where Google needs to improve.
Why This Matters
Search is still growing by billions per quarter, and Google is touting its AI properties. The slow decline is a single data point, not a trend, but it falls alongside other capital increases aimed at making AI the engine of a business that has recently grown steadily. How that bet plays out will change what areas you target and what types of ads reach your audience.
Read our full coverage:
Google Search Revenue Growth Holds Up After a Year of Acceleration
Photos Says Google Needs Gemini 4 To Compete
Court Dismisses Google’s DMCA Claims Against SerpApi
A federal judge dismissed Google’s DMCA claims against SerpApi, ruling that blocking automatic access to public search results is not copyright infringement if those results do not contain copyrighted content.
Important facts: The judge granted SerpApi’s motion to dismiss both claims against infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Claims based on results that do not contain copyrighted content are dismissed without permission to amend, while claims involving licensed images in the results are dismissed with permission for Google to amend within 21 days. The court rejected SerpApi’s argument that Google lacked standing to sue, and found that Google clearly alleged a violation of its SearchGuard program.
Why This Matters
Many of the tools that professionals rely on, from rank trackers to SERP monitors, rely on scraped search results, and this cycle has run its course. The court held that bypassing an access control is not a violation of the DMCA if the results behind it do not contain copyrighted content. Google can still amend its small claims, and the district court’s order is not binding on other courts. Currently, the decision provides tools based on the language to be cited.
What People Say
Rand Fishkin, founder and CEO of SparkToro, wrote on X:
“If you surf the web, or rely on any product you do, you should be very grateful to @serp_api today.”
Independent SEO consultant Nick LeRoy posted on X:
“I’m not against Google like many, but this is a great win for the industry (thanks @serp_api)”
Lily Ray, founder of Algorythmic, responded on LinkedIn:
“Wow, Google case against SerpAPI dismissed 🤯 I wonder if we’ll see more Google releasing LLMs and tracking tools now… And a lot of noise in our GSC reporting 😕”
Read our full story: Court Dismisses Google’s DMCA Claims Against SerpApi
Publishers Set Conditions on Staying in Google Search
The CEO of USA Today Co. Mike Reed says the company is ready to delist from Google in the next six to twelve months, according to Adweek. Several publishers are considering whether staying on the list is still worth the trade-off.
Important facts: A Wall Street Journal report this week said Reddit is renegotiating its $60 million-a-year licensing deal with Google, Politico and Reuters are considering restrictions on Google’s crawler, and People Inc. described blocking Google as an option.
Why This Matters
Major publishers are now publicly stating what it takes to get going. If licensing becomes the answer, the amount of content in Google’s index changes to a negotiated number instead of a perceived traffic trade, and those negotiations can shape the terms small publishers get.
What People Say
Cyrus Shepard, founder of Zyppy, wrote on LinkedIn after reading the Journal report:
“The reward for publishers is gone, and it’s going down.”
Former Ad Age editor Jack Neff, responding to LinkedIn’s previous Adweek report on July 10, raised the issue of costs:
“If publishers blocking Google searches become more widespread, I really fear how the quality of AI Overviews will deteriorate as Gemini’s access to professional content is further reduced.”
Read Adweek’s full report: When Unthinkable, Publishers Prepare to Exit Google Search
EU Issues First DMA Fines Against Google, Data Sharing Terms Already Suspended
The European Commission fined Google 890 million euros on July 23, its first fines against a company under the Digital Markets Act, one week after adopting mandatory rulings requiring Google to share anonymous search data with competitors.
Important facts: The Commission issued a €460 million fine for choosing Google’s shopping, hotel, transportation, and sports results over similar third-party services, and a €430 million fine for restricting developers from directing users outside of Google Play. Separate July 16 rulings require Google to share anonymous query, click, view, and ranking data with relevant competitors, including AI chatbots that qualify as search engines, and open Android to competing assistants.
Why This Matters
Self-selecting puts the structure of the EU results page under a compliance deadline, so the way Google displays its services against third-party listings can change there within 60 days. Data sharing decisions can ultimately expand which search engines and chatbots can create competing retrieval systems, and thus, who cites sources and sends referral traffic. Neither decision changes standards by itself, and what will be seen will depend on how Google complies.
Read our full story: Google Must Share Anonymous Search Data with Competitors
Theme of the Week: Everyone Re-interviews Google
Google Faces Pressure From Three Ways
The court decision, the publishers’ negotiations, and the EU’s enforcement are putting pressure on Google from three directions.
Google’s DMCA dismissed claims involving search results other than copyrighted content.
Legal pressure
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USA Today Co. says it may leave Google Search within six to twelve months. Others measure searcher restrictions or license terms.
Commercial pressure
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$63.27BQ2 Search & other income+ 17% year on year
$195–205B2026 capex forecast
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Google received €890M in DMA fines. Different options set the search data sharing and Android requirements.
Control pressure
All the talk this week is the party redrawing its deal with Google. A federal court has limited what legal tools Google can use against companies that collect its results. Publishers turn their listing presence into conversations. The EU is fining how Google ranks its results page while forcing its search data out. And the revenue shows what’s sitting on Google’s side of the table, a quarter of $63 billion from Search with record spending on AI.
The exchange that has defined the open web for two decades, content and access in return for traffic, is re-priced to all parties simultaneously.
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